Serious legal trouble in sight for this building of 20 housing units in Vendée

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The Association for the Defense of Rue Laënnec and several “immediate neighbors” of the project asked the Nantes Administrative Court of Appeal on Tuesday November 19, 2024 to cancel a building permit. This was issued on May 30, 2022 by the mayor of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (Vendée) for the construction of a building of 20 housing units.

Nothing to say at first instance

As a reminder, the project concerns more precisely the creation of “13 meters” high and “14 meters” wide at n°2 bis rue René-Laënnec. At first instance, the administrative court of Nantes found nothing wrong with the green light given by Mayor François Blanchet (ex-LR) to this project which “presents simple geometric shapes » and who is “called to integrate into an environment that […] is intended to be significantly densified ».

“If the notice refers to the Salorges wood of the Marais Breton Vendée to justify the choice of the cladding material, this reference alone, even if it is erroneous, is not likely to mislead the competent authority as to the integration of the project into its environment,” the first judges estimated.

A neighborhood with suburban housing

“The urban environment […] is essentially characterized by a suburban housing with gardens, relatively recent, with a traditional appearance but of diverse shapes, materials and colors,” they judged.

“This district also includes a healthcare establishment with a larger volume than that of the project [les locaux de l’Association départementale d’accompagnement et de maintien à domicile (ADAMAD), ndlr] as well as collective residential buildings. »

The association's appeal is “not admissible”

On appeal, the public rapporteur – whose opinions are often followed by judges – began his conclusions by suggesting to the administrative court of appeal to annul this judgment for “irregularity”in that he had not responded to two arguments put forward by the applicants.

According to him, the association's appeal is “not admissible” because its “statutes” had been “filed on July 23, 2021”, i.e. less than a year before “display in town hall” of the building permit . But that of “immediate neighbors”, on an individual basis, remains legitimate.

A “surprising” choice of roof

However, two of their arguments are admissible, according to him: the building on rue Laënnec firstly suffers from a “failure to fit into its environment”,according to him. “The authors of the Local Urban Plan (PLU) wanted to place great importance on the insertion of new construction projects. However, the building in question has a volume that is out of all proportion to the houses in this area,” he told the judges.

« Il crushes neighboring buildingscontrary to what the PLU requires. […] The progressiveness in the urbanization objective of this sector implies that the town hall first authorizes intermediate-sized collective projects before more ambitious projects, like the one studied today. »

The “surprising choice of roof” chosen by the civil construction-sales company (SCCV) Laennec – a subsidiary of the real estate developer Opus, based in Saint-Herblain (Loire-Atlantique) – is also contrary to local planning rulesaccording to the public rapporteur: the roof is “two times two slopes” or “once four slopes” depending on the parts of the building…

A regularization of the permit envisaged

Despite these irregularities which “entail reviewing the general economy of the project”, the public rapporteur did not recommend canceling the building permit but simply “staying proceedings” for six months while the developer “regularizes” his building permit with the town hall. For this, he cited recent case law from the Council of State.

The lawyer for residents of the project – several of whom were present at the hearing – said he was “100% in agreement with the defects” mentioned by the public rapporteur. “It is complicated to go from one to four levels as planned, insertion is questionable,” commented Me Geoffroy de Baynast. The fact remains that the permit “cannot be regularized”, from his point of view.

A decision rendered in the coming weeks

“The desire of the municipality is to guarantee the harmonious development of its territory,” replied the lawyer for the municipality of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie. “When you have to build for so many inhabitants, and when the Littoral law requires the construction of 50% of the territory of the municipality, so we must densify…The architect did everything to ensure that the project was considered inserted into its environment. »

The Nantes Administrative Court of Appeal, which has reserved its decision, will deliver its judgment in the coming weeks.

/ED (PressPepper)

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